Kathmandu, Feb 11 (IANS): Nepal attaches special priority to its relations with India and China and such ties should be further consolidated on the basis of mutual trust, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat has said.

"Nepal's relations with China and India have their own special features. Our relations with both of them should be harmonious. Nepal is always making efforts towards that end and positive outcomes are also coming out," Mahat said at a seminar, the Kathmandu Post reported.

He also said that using relations with neighbouring countries to get into power and fulfil partisan interests would never make Nepal stronger.

"For long we have been using the relations with our neighbours as a tool for achieving power and addressing one party's interests," Mahat said on Friday.

The country's geographical and caste diversities have contributed to the strengthening of national unity and security, he said, underlining the need for using diplomacy as the base for national defence.